4. Grace Marks

07/25/22 • 28 min

Lucy Worsley investigates the ordinary lives and extraordinary crimes of Victorian women.

This story is about a young servant, Grace Marks, accused of two brutal murders that generated enormous attention in the new world of Upper Canada in 1843. In that time and in that place, murders were rare - and rarer still was a female murderer.

Grace Marks and stable boy James McDermott went on the run, ending up in Lewiston, New York after their employers Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper, Nancy were found dead. Grace insisted she didn't kill them and was forced by James McDermott to run away with him. But when Grace was arrested she was even wearing the clothing of the woman she was accused of murdering.

Lucy examines the evidence, including duelling confessions from the accused, with the help of psychological scientist and host of the Bad People podcast, Dr Julia Shaw.

They ask if the 16-year-old housemaid who had worked in five different houses in three years could be responsible for the violent killings.

We also hear from historian Susan Houston from York University, Toronto, who has written about the case and discusses the legal and social environment that is stacked against Grace.

In the case made famous by Margarent Atwood in Alias Grace, we speculate on what happened and ask if Grace would have been treated differently if she had more power. Or was she actually a naïve 16-year-old caught up in the doomed plot of a disgruntled stable boy? You decide....

Producer: Sandra Bartlett Readers: Colleen Prendergast and William Hope Sound Design: Chris Maclean

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

Lucy Worsley investigates the ordinary lives and extraordinary crimes of Victorian women.

Lucy examines the evidence, including duelling confessions from the accused, with the help of psychological scientist and host of the Bad People podcast, Dr Julia Shaw.

They ask if the 16-year-old housemaid who had worked in five different houses in three years could be responsible for the violent killings.

We also hear from historian Susan Houston from York University, Toronto, who has written about the case and discusses the legal and social environment that is stacked against Grace.

Producer: Sandra Bartlett Readers: Colleen Prendergast and William Hope Sound Design: Chris Maclean

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

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3. Lizzie Borden

On a hot August day in 1892, a wealthy Massachusetts couple, Andrew and Abby Borden, were hacked to death during broad daylight in their home in the small industrial city of Fall River.

Lizzie Borden, Andrew’s daughter from his first marriage, was arrested for double homicide. The trial gripped the nation – especially Victorian women who pack the courtroom to watch proceedings, in what one reporter described as a sea of calico and lace – referring to the female interest that bridges social divides.

But what does a wealthy white woman accused of murder reveal about the growing immigrant population, swirling politics and dark underbelly of Fall River, New England and beyond? Was the trial as much a battle for what kind of America would dominate in an age of deep-seated tensions? Could a woman of such standing be allowed to be seen as culpable of such a crime? Why, despite an avalanche of circumstantial evidence pointing to Lizzie as the culprit, was she acquitted, only to be judged forever after as guilty by the court of public opinion and in the realms of American folklore?

In this latest episode of Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley meets with journalist Erin Moriarty, who reinvestigates the case from a modern legal standpoint. They examine the differences in how women in such a case were treated back then, compared with what happens today.

And lawyer and historian Cara Robertson - who has written a book on the case - tours Fall River, examining exhibits from the trial and visiting the Borden family house.

We see how this case helps us understand the life of wealthy Victorian women, how they are perceived and their role in American society.

Producer: Diane Hope Readers: Colleen Prendergast and William Hope Sound Design: Chris Maclean A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4

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5. Getting Away With It

In this episode of Lady Killers, Lucy Worsley and Dr Rosalind Crone look back and discuss the first four cases and the issues and themes they share.

Together they look again at the alleged poisoners Florence Bravo and Madeleine Smith, who were said to have killed their respective husband and lover. They delve deeper into the story of the American heiress Lizzie Borden, accused of murdering her father and stepmother and discuss the teenage servant, Grace Marks who was jailed for killing her master and his lover in Canada.

They analyse the role class and gender may have played in these cases, look at why three out of the four were never found guilty of anything and discover how the choice of murder weapons was seen to reflect their gender and spark a national moral panic. Then Lucy and Ros turn their expertise onto the most important question of all, did they get away with murder?

Producer: Alex Baxter Sound design: Chris Maclean

A StoryHunter production for BBC Radio 4